Friday, July 30, 2004

Walter Beasley Pondering Retirement

Saxophonist Walter Beasley says he may retire from making music after his new contract with the Heads Up label expires. He says he wants to focus more on his teaching career at the Berklee College of Music.

Veteran saxophonist Walter Beasley, who recently signed a contract with the Heads Up record label and is now writing songs for his first album for them, says he’s thinking of retiring after recording a few more albums. Beasley is in his 40s and has recorded 10 albums.

As you may know, he is also a full-time associate professor of music at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he teaches courses in composition and contemporary jazz. He’ll be teaching an online hip-hop course in the fall, and is soon releasing instructional DVDs on his website, walterbeasley.com. Walter admits that he has some disillusionment with the music industry, but says he also wants to focus even more of his life on teaching music.

“Whether I stay retired, you can just never tell," says Beasley. "I want to go out knowing that I made a difference and knowing that people knew that I was different type of saxophonist-slash-writer-vocalist or what have you than the rest of the bunch. And that’s the way I wanna end my musical career. I’ll teach – and that’s something that I would love to dedicate the rest of my life to. And that takes time. You can’t be in two places at one time.”
Brian Soergel smoothjazzvibes.com